The Summer of Yes

A friend of mine planted this idea in my head the other day…he said he was living by only one single motto this summer:
Saying YES…
…to anything anyone asked him to do!I thought, wow…that is genius! And, I thought about it more… and more… and, that is exactly what my summer has been like; but, instead of saying yes to others,I am saying YES to ME…

All summer I have been saying yes… to whatever I want to eat, wherever I want to go, whomever I want to meet or talk to and, most importantly, I have been working towards saying YES to my heart and my head at the same time.

I remember when I sought counseling for the first time ever a few months ago, my therapist mentioned a writer to me (whose name I have sadly forgotten!) who wrote a book based around this very idea. (I have to find this book…) From what I know of the book, this in-recovery disordered eater took time off…

This summer I have taken time off… she and I have taken time off from guilt and from shame and from calorie counting and body obsessing. We have taken time off from the two most fear-laden things in this world: food and my body.

My body, I have now learned, is resilient and strong. This body has taken many-a-beatings from food I have either kept it from or drowned it in for years. This summer, I eat when I want to eat and what I want to eat, and, more importantly, I don’t when I don’t want to. And, what do ya know…?? I have discovered that the world as I know it will not end sans obsession! It doesn’t even skip a beat when I don’t worry or ruminate. In fact, it smiles back at me and says, there ya go girl! Keep on saying YES.

I have just been saying YES. I’ve let go of the heavy and overbearing pressure of being “good” and I have just said YES. This has been my SUMMER OF YES!

“Pressure busts pipes”

…my dearest friend David always said that to me. He usually was referring to a pool game we’d be playing out at a bar but, yes David. David had lots of insightful things to say. And, this one is just absolutely, undeniably true.

Pressure busts pipes… pressure pressure pressure. Pressure I put on myself. Pressure the media and faux advertisements put on me. Pressure the shape of jeans and tank tops put on me. Pressure busted my pipes for years. I had been a broken, leaking pipe for quite some time. But, no more.

I will not succumb to such air-brushed, photo-shopped standards. NO MORE. I will let go of and just ignore its pressure and I will be ME the way in which I was made by my wondrous Creator. I will continue to only succumb to ME and my heart!